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Laurel to North Arlington (Marymount)

New commute time! I just moved out to Laurel MD (right near Laurel Lake). I need to commute to Marymount University in North Arlington. Currently I'm taking Van Dusen to Konterra, down 1 on the WIDE sidewalk to reach a nice cutthrough to Rhode Island. Then I go down Rhode Island and the Trolley Trail to Hyattsville where I hop back onto 1 around Shortcake Bakery. I follow 1 until I cut across to get to DC around Hamlin to pass Right Proper Brewing on my way to the Met Branch Trail. I go across DC along R street and meander over to M street through Georgetown and then over the Key Bridge and up the hills of the Custis.

It takes me about 1 hr 45 minutes of moving time, but with stops its at 2 hr 15-20 minutes. Crossing DC REALLY kills my speed! SO much stopping time! I've got a Juiced CCS on delivery to try to speed up the commute (and dreams of a Stromer) and make it doable 5 days a week without getting exhausted. I'm curious if anyone has suggestions for a better route to remove some of those starts/stops in cutting through DC? Possibly the Anacostia Riverwalk, but what's the best way to use that and cut through DC? I also expect an ebike changes the mix as I should be able to easily maintain ~20 mph through the whole route making me think city roads are better than trails where I wouldn't keep those speeds for safety purposes. Thanks for your collective wisdom!

I don't know the Laurel area, but if there's a way for you to get to the CCT, I'd take that to the towpath and take Chain Bridge to Glebe. (Assuming you can deal with the 41st St. climb). Beast of a commute; good luck.

I don't know the Laurel area, but if there's a way for you to get to the CCT, I'd take that to the towpath and take Chain Bridge to Glebe. (Assuming you can deal with the 41st St. climb). Beast of a commute; good luck.

Getting to CCT would be tough, unless he wanted to venture out through Olney following the ICC trail.... Oh wait, most of it doesn't exist! Alternatively, he could take the GBT..... Oh wait, that's shut down for the Purple Line construction.......

ebubar, you're route is probably what I would recommend. You could look at taking Gallatin and Galloway through Fort Totten and up to the CCT at Van Ness. That adds some hills and more traffic, and I doubt that would increase your commute times. You could also look at taking the ART down to Benning, jump over the Anacostia and cut down to E Capitol.

I also expect an ebike changes the mix as I should be able to easily maintain ~20 mph through the whole route making me think city roads are better than trails where I wouldn't keep those speeds for safety purposes.

You said this, and I just wanted to highlight it. Still, be prepared for some ... er, critique?... from people who hate ebikes blowing by them at 20+ on multi-use trails like CCT, Anacostia Riverwalk, Met Branch, or the Custis. Fair warning.

I'm not all that familiar with the DC portion of your route, but strategically I would pick the straightest roads with the fewest lights and least traffic. It will take some trial and error, and your options may change when you get the ebike. If you can achieve 20+ average, feel free to take the lane even on streets with bike lanes (like M Street). When you get to Arlington, Wilson Blvd is fairly calm. Some people take the lane on Lee Hwy and are fine with it. Just ride carefully and predictably on the roads, and you could reduce the commute time.

Beast of a commute indeed. Thanks for subtracting one car, and good luck.

I don't know the Laurel area, but if there's a way for you to get to the CCT, I'd take that to the towpath and take Chain Bridge to Glebe. (Assuming you can deal with the 41st St. climb). Beast of a commute; good luck.

Definitely no good way to get to the CCT from Laurel. I'd recommend going the way you go, Konterra, Route 1 sidepath to Rhode Island cut through, then when you get to Hyattsville, take the ART, it will cut off a lot of hills and save you time overall. Once you get to Nats Stadium go around and take Maine Ave. to Jefferson Memorial, then I'd cross the bridge into VA and take the MVT up.

P.S. I think your e-bike choice is terrible! You can do that commute everyday without it, it's only 50 miles a day. Trust me, I know

You said this, and I just wanted to highlight it. Still, be prepared for some ... er, critique?... from people who hate ebikes blowing by them at 20+ on multi-use trails like CCT, Anacostia Riverwalk, Met Branch, or the Custis. Fair warning.

I'm not all that familiar with the DC portion of your route, but strategically I would pick the straightest roads with the fewest lights and least traffic. It will take some trial and error, and your options may change when you get the ebike. If you can achieve 20+ average, feel free to take the lane even on streets with bike lanes (like M Street). When you get to Arlington, Wilson Blvd is fairly calm. Some people take the lane on Lee Hwy and are fine with it. Just ride carefully and predictably on the roads, and you could reduce the commute time.

Beast of a commute indeed. Thanks for subtracting one car, and good luck.

Indeed. I'd limit the ebike-superness to non-trail usage to hopefully avoid any kerfluffles. Any other critiques I would brush off with the justification of riding half a century a day in commuting. I think that justifies an ebike. Might try to get a new Garmin 520 plus with cyclemap live routing to help identify the best cycling roads too...

Definitely no good way to get to the CCT from Laurel. I'd recommend going the way you go, Konterra, Route 1 sidepath to Rhode Island cut through, then when you get to Hyattsville, take the ART, it will cut off a lot of hills and save you time overall. Once you get to Nats Stadium go around and take Maine Ave. to Jefferson Memorial, then I'd cross the bridge into VA and take the MVT up.

P.S. I think your e-bike choice is terrible! You can do that commute everyday without it, it's only 50 miles a day. Trust me, I know

I can do it without an ebike, but perhaps not in a reasonable amount of time .

I can do it without an ebike, but perhaps not in a reasonable amount of time .

Ok, I must admit that I considered an e-bike as an option to do my 44 mi. round trip daily commute, but I never ended up doing it. I just budgeted in the time, but it was tough. My long commute was from NW DC to Laurel. Your commute is essentially the opposite direction that mine was, with some additional distance added getting up the Custiss.

I'm not sure you should take advice from anyone, if you do this commute consistently, you will be a stud. Just try not to e-bike it every day.

You could also try going early morning and take your bike on metro (before 7 am) for part of the trip. Or stash bikes on both ends of your metro trip, or get a folding bike. You also carpool into DC with your bike in the car and then bike the rest of the way. You could do the alternating driving thing, where you drive to work one day then bike home and alternate. You could ride your bike to a Zipcar and then drive the rest of the way home (night rates are cheap with Zip) and then do the oposite the next day. Also, now that Uber and Lyft have pool options, they've gotten a lot cheaper, so it could be a viable option for connecting you from work to metro and metro to home, if you only had a bike on one leg of the metro trip. Also, don't forget the MARC, it is a good way to get from Laurel to Union Station, then you could ride from there to work. Also Metro and MARC have bike locker options that are fairly affordable, if leaving a bike at metro is a problem for you.

Ok, I must admit that I considered an e-bike as an option to do my 44 mi. round trip daily commute, but I never ended up doing it. I just budgeted in the time, but it was tough. My long commute was from NW DC to Laurel. Your commute is essentially the opposite direction that mine was, with some additional distance added getting up the Custiss.

I'm not sure you should take advice from anyone, if you do this commute consistently, you will be a stud. Just try not to e-bike it every day.

You could also try going early morning and take your bike on metro (before 7 am) for part of the trip. Or stash bikes on both ends of your metro trip, or get a folding bike. You also carpool into DC with your bike in the car and then bike the rest of the way. You could do the alternating driving thing, where you drive to work one day then bike home and alternate. You could ride your bike to a Zipcar and then drive the rest of the way home (night rates are cheap with Zip) and then do the oposite the next day. Also, now that Uber and Lyft have pool options, they've gotten a lot cheaper, so it could be a viable option for connecting you from work to metro and metro to home, if you only had a bike on one leg of the metro trip. Also, don't forget the MARC, it is a good way to get from Laurel to Union Station, then you could ride from there to work. Also Metro and MARC have bike locker options that are fairly affordable, if leaving a bike at metro is a problem for you.

All good ideas! I do have the option to carpool with my other half to her office at UMD and bike from there. That's a more manageable 30 mile roundtrip, which works well. But if I can ebike in similar time without any time in the car, i'd like that option